Hear, hear, Paula! I know I’ll sound like the old lady I am, but appliances just aren’t made as well as they were in the past. My mom had the same washer/dryer, whatever, forever. They never broke down. Now I think they’re programmed to break down at 12:01 AM, the first day following the expiration of your warranty. 😉

I guess our only recourse is social media, although I admit I am not one to do that.

Except in the case of my trash company. They seem to have one person dedicated to tweeting “We’re sorry to hear you’re experiencing problems. Please contact our customer service line.”

Uh, the reason we tweet it is your customer service line, which varies widely thanks to you subcontracting to local haulers, is awful and inconsistent in their responses.

I had a series of problems with my refrigerator. They began within the warranty period, but I didn’t realize there was an issue until about a month after the warranty period, so I paid for a repairman who said it had been icing up for months. He defrosted it, said it was probably a plugged drain. He told me the warning signs to look for, and it happened again. Same process, this time he tested the electronics, which apparently read as if they were working correctly, so he checked the thermostat – he removed it and a piece inside was loose. I could hear it when he shook it. He replaced the thermostat. (That trip was within 30 days of the initial service, so there was no charge.) He also told me the brand of fridge I bought out by another major brand, which switched some parts to cheaper plastic parts. When the problem happened again, I tweeted about it. Someone from the company’s customer service called, arranged for another service person to come out and assured me despite the refrigerator now being more than six months out of warranty that they would cover the parts and service to get the refrigerator working. That was the same summer that my range, dryer and window air conditioner all failed. All were the same brand. The AC was old, and I replaced it. The dryer only needed a new belt. The oven issue was a glitch that hasn’t happened since – but she told me if it did they would send new parts free of charge.

As dissatisfied as I was with the inferior quality of the (otherwise beautiful) refrigerator, and having four appliances from the same manufacturer break within a couple of months, their outstanding customer service redeemed the company in my eyes. Will I ever buy another one of their appliances? Maybe not. But I don’t actively hate the company today as I did during my summer of broken appliances.

Wow, Lori. Isn’t that too sad that the run of bad luck you had with your customer service experience is really very common? And the part that really frosts me is the ridiculous amount of energy and time you have had to waste on this nonsense.

BTW, the funny thing about the tablet. I wasn’t really having problems with it. Although the battery did seem to drain fairly quickly. Not horrible – just quicker than I expected. It was only because I did a routine system check that it said the battery needed replacing. Next thing I know I’m shipping it off and having lord knows what done to it. 🙁

I wish I could find just one company recently that’s excelled at customer service. I ordered shoes for my daughter. Beginning of October. They didn’t fit. She sent them back three days later. I was to receive either cash back or credit. I waited. Two months later (December), I called. Did they get those shoes? I had a receipt that said the package had been received. Apologies, and promises that I’d see that cash back within four days.

A month later (January – last week, in fact), I called again. Uh, where’s that cash credit? Ooops. More apologies, promise to fix the problem instantly (which it was), but I could only get store credit because it’s “company policy” not to give it if it’s been ninety days since purchase.

Are we noticing that company policy got in the way of a cash refund? For a time lapse not caused by me? Not that I cared all that much, but I wanted her to have the option of choosing something besides those shoes should she not find another pair.

I have hung up on so many customer service lines. I get tired of being told by an automated voice that my “call is important” to them. I’m calling bullshit on that — if my call were so important, they’d hire more reps or fix their shoddy products so they wouldn’t have so many calls.

Let’s fast-forward to my other customer service issue. This one is partly my fault. I went searching for a hotel room. I used a search engine. It pulled up results for the date range I’d put into it. Neat, huh?

Only when I clicked on the hotel of choice, it somehow defaulted to a date a week later. I reserved the room and noticed it as I hit Send. Shit. Okay, I’ll just find out how to reschedule.

Nope. Nonrefundable means you’re not only not getting your money back, but you’re not able to make a single change in the scheduling. Not. One. Change. I called Traveolcity (calling them out because they were the first brick wall). They hemmed, hawed, and promised to call me the next day after they spoke to the hotel directly.

Four hours after they said they’d call, my phone rang. They were advising me to speak to the hotel directly. Huh? I said, “Did you call them? The person yesterday said they’d contact the hotel.”

No ma’am, I was told. But call them and see if they can make an exception.

I called the Best Western location. Meet brick wall number two. The manager sounded helpful, but he wasn’t really helping. He explained that Travelocity buys rooms at a discount and they pretty much don’t leave a lot of profit wiggle room. They lose too much money, in other words. So he wished he could help, but he suggested I call Travelocity and try them.

Right.

In the end, I received a policy-laden email expressing how “sorry” they were that the hotel wasn’t budging and that Travelocity policy didn’t allow such a change.

The best part? It was a Tuesday night in the middle of nowhere. The hotel was pretty empty. As it would be the following week.

Off my soap box. Good topic, Cathy. 🙂

Maybe we should delegate our complaints to Paula, Anne. 😉

And so many hope to wear you out, Paula. I admit, the older I get, the less inclined I am to expend the energy.

It is true that some companies get in the way of good customer service. They don’t empower their representatives to take care of the issue. Sad. Talk about a misguided perspective. Thanks, Anne. 🙂

good for you, paula… good to know you’ve got my back.

I politely tell them how poorly the situation reflects on the entire company, and how I’m sure they don’t want the general public to have such a negative impression of their company/products/employees – of or their management skills. Then I implore them to find a fair and equitable solution, and say I expect a reply within a certain time frame.

If nothing happens within that time frame, I then send copies of all of the above with a slightly more forceful letter. After pointing out that I’d given them several opportunities to rectify the situation and they had failed to do so, I outline exactly what I expect. I usually give a couple of options, and nine times out of ten I have a call from an executive-level “specialist” within a week. Why? Taking that extra step and ensuring the VP or president knows the CEO is aware of the problem is a good way to motivate them to fix it. They also know I’m serious and my first letter was not just to vent my frustration.

One time it didn’t work, and I had to take it further. It took over a year, if I recall, but I eventually got them to take me seriously and correct the situation. That one took so long because it was with the electric company. Monopolies always take more effort since they know we don’t have an alternative.